Method for handling a control card

ABSTRACT

A method for handling a control card, wherein the control card is received by another vehicle. This provides an increased degree of safety in situations to be regulated, as it is possible to compare control cards of different vehicles and coordinate them if necessary.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. Continuation Application of U.S. applicationSer. No. 15/514,689, filed Mar. 27, 2017 which is a U.S. National Phaseof PCT International Application No. PCT/EP2015/073241, filed Oct. 8,2015, which claims priority to German Patent Application No. 10 2014 220624.3, filed Oct. 10, 2014, the contents of such applications beingincorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method for handling a control card containingtraffic regulations in a vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traffic regulations are currently usually defined by generally appliedrules such as give way to the right, traffic signs, light signals or bytraffic police. Individually steered vehicles, such as motor vehicles orbicycles, rail vehicles such as trams and also pedestrians, are able toavoid potential collisions and accidents by following these rules. Thisapplies to right-of-way rules for example, but also to other trafficregulations such as no overtaking, for example.

For modern vehicles and other road users, traffic regulations areusually read by the driver or pedestrian from road signs, light signalsor traffic police or are determined from the specific trafficconditions. Thus for example, a driver can tell in the absence of roadsigns at an intersection that the basic rule of giving way to the rightapplies. He can deduce from other vehicles at the intersection whetherhe has right-of-way or not, i.e. has to give way if necessary. If thedriver sees a member of the traffic police, he can also tell whether heis allowed to drive on or not. When a vehicle is approaching a junction,for example an access road to a motorway or other highway, the drivercan determine from the laws of the country whether a merging vehicleshould in principle wait for a gap in the flowing traffic, or whetherthe merging vehicle is given priority.

The manual interpretation of traffic regulations is always associatedwith the risk of human error. The result of incorrectly interpreting thetraffic regulations or deliberately disregarding traffic regulationsmeans that there is a very high risk of an accident. Therefore, systemshave already been developed that interpret traffic regulations, forexample by means of a camera, and help the driver to observe the trafficregulations. Of course, said systems cannot prevent an accident,particularly if at least one vehicle involved in a situation to becontrolled interprets at least one traffic rule incorrectly. This may bea result of technical faults for example or also recognition problems,such as having a road sign covered in snow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an aspect of the invention aims to provide an alternative,for example improved, method for handling traffic regulations. This isachieved according to the invention by a method according to claim 1.Advantageous configurations can be taken for example from the dependentclaims. The content of the claims is incorporated into the content ofthe description by explicit reference.

An aspect of the invention relates to a method for handling a controlcard containing traffic regulations in a motor vehicle, which comprisesthe following step:

-   -   receiving a control card directly from another vehicle.

By means of the method according to an aspect of the invention a trafficrule or control card can be received by another vehicle. This makes itpossible to synchronise the traffic regulations of a plurality ofvehicles. For example, in this way it is possible to prevent twovehicles crossing an intersection having to signal to the other driverrespectively, that one of them has the right-of-way, as the vehicles cancommunicate with one another when using the method according to theinvention and can recognise any discrepancies in the recognised trafficregulations that may result in an increased risk of accident. However,this is only one possible area of application of the method according tothe invention. Numerous other applications are possible, for examplesuch as those described further below.

The use of a control card is particularly advantageous because such acard is not restricted to including the traffic regulations for one'sown vehicle, but can also contain traffic regulations applicable toother road users, in particular vehicles. On a technical level, by meansof such a card, the conditions are set for taking into account not onlythe traffic regulations applicable to oneself but also those that applyto other road users.

For example, the received control card can be used directly in thevehicle or it can also be compared with a control card created in thevehicle itself or obtained from another source. For example, this can beperformed as described below.

Traffic regulations can be defined in particular as a right-of-way orgive way and no overtaking. Other traffic regulations can also beprocessed by means of the method according to the invention, for examplespeed limits or stopping restrictions.

A control card is defined in particular as a set of traffic regulations,which are assigned for example to a situation to be regulated and/or toa road section or area to be regulated. In particular, a control cardcan contain traffic regulations that correspond with one another, forexample right-of-way rules for each road and each driving direction ofseveral roads which cross at an intersection, or right-of-way rules fora motorway and an access lane onto the motorway. Ideally the trafficregulations should correspond with one another so that by observing thetraffic regulations a collision between the vehicles involved isavoided. For example, this can mean at an intersection that bothdirections of a continuous road have right-of-way, whilst bothdirections of a crossing road have to give way. At a junction this canmean that priority is given to the continuous traffic or the mergingtraffic. On a road where overtaking is possible this can mean that withtwo-way traffic a temporary no overtaking rule is established, forexample no overtaking a slow-moving vehicle such as a lorry or anagricultural vehicle.

A control card can be used for example to display to the driver thetraffic regulations contained therein on the instrument panel or in ahead-up display. It can however also be used for example for anautonomous driving system or for an assistance system, for example.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that

-   -   the method is performed such that an approach to an intersection        or junction is recognised,    -   wherein the approach is identified preferably by means of        environmental sensors, in particular by means of a camera, by        means of satellite navigation, by means of an electronic road        map and/or by means of car-to-X-communication.

This makes it possible to carry out the method in a situation that isparticularly in need of regulation. This may also be the case inparticular, if the approach involves several vehicles and/or this isidentified. A junction can also be defined in particular as an accesslane onto a motorway. An intersection can also be defined as aroundabout or any other branching or merging of roads.

It is preferable in this case that the traffic regulations contained onthe control card are assigned to the intersection or junction, inparticular right-of-way and give way.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the method is performedsuch that the vehicle sends a message to another vehicle that receives arequest to transmit a control card.

This makes it possible, for example, for the vehicle performing themethod, when following a slow-moving vehicle, to ask the slow-movingvehicle before performing an overtaking procedure whether it is possibleto perform said overtaking procedure. If the slow-moving vehicle doesnot detect any oncoming traffic a control card can be generated whichdoes not include a no overtaking instruction. If oncoming traffic hasbeen identified a control card can be produced which includes atemporary no overtaking rule. Said control card is then sent from theslow-moving vehicle to the following vehicle and indicates to the latterwhether an overtaking procedure is possible or should not be attempted.

The following vehicle can send the request for transmitting a controlcard, in particular relating to the proposal of collaborating in anovertaking procedure, whereby in said proposal the slow-moving vehiclecan communicate to following vehicles that it is able to collaboratewith the planning of an overtaking procedure. Such a proposal can bereceived for example by the vehicle performing the method according tothe invention.

By means of such applications the safety on country roads, for example,can be increased considerably, as a slow-moving vehicle such as a lorrytypically has a better field of vision and better sensors than followingvehicles.

According to one embodiment, the method is repeated continually, inparticular it is repeated periodically for continual synchronisation.

In this way, for example, the vehicles involved can continually exchangecontrol cards, in particular by means of vehicles communicating by meansof direct or indirect radio connection, which are involved in asituation requiring regulation, in particular in order to identify anyproblems, for example control cards that do not correspond or match, asearly as possible and prevent accidents. The method can also beperformed such that a vehicle continually sends its respective controlcard, regardless of whether it is received by another vehicle or anotherunit.

According to one embodiment, together with the control card one or moreof the following elements are received:

-   -   a registration number of a vehicle sending the control card,    -   an identification number of a vehicle sending the control card,    -   a topology of the intersection,    -   object properties, in particular the manner, position and/or        trajectory, of a vehicle transmitting the control card,    -   information about the reliability of the control card and/or        about the reliability of environmental sensors, in particular a        camera,    -   information about vehicles, which are not equipped with the        technology for participating in the synchronisation of traffic        regulations, in particular which are not equipped with        car-to-X-communication technology, and in particular including        their number plate,    -   a measure of reliability.

Such information can improve and/or facilitate the evaluation of thecontrol card in the received vehicle. A measure of reliability canrelate for example to the quality of sensors of the transmitting vehicleand thus indicate how reliable the control card is, for example whetherthe road signs or intersection topologies have in fact been correctlyidentified.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the method alsocomprises the following steps:

-   -   comparing the received control card with an additional control        card, and    -   triggering a matching procedure, when the control card and the        additional control card do not match.

In this way, if the control cards do not match, a matching procedure canbe triggered that can lead, for example, to matching control cards whichreduce the risk of accident further. Control cards that do not match aredefined in particular as control cards, which display for at least oneactually present or only for a possibly present vehicle at least twodifferent traffic regulations. For example, two non-matching controlcards can be designed such that one control card indicates right-of-wayfor a specific road at an intersection in a specific direction, whereasthe other control card indicates to give way. Matching control cardstypically indicate for all possible vehicle locations the same trafficregulations respectively.

When the control cards match, typically no synchronising procedure istriggered. In this case for example a communication can be sent to anexternal unit such as other vehicles or a central server, thecommunication indicating that the control cards match. This indicatesthat the intersection can be passed on the basis of the matching controlcards without risk by all of the vehicles involved.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the additional controlcard is produced by means of the following steps:

-   -   identifying the environmental surroundings by means of a number        of environmental sensors,    -   deriving a number of traffic regulations based on the        environmental surroundings, and    -   producing the control card based at least on the traffic        regulations.

This makes it possible to compare the control card received by anothervehicle with a control card produced by the vehicle itself.

Environmental surroundings can include for example an intersection, anumber of road signs, a number of light signals, a number of furthervehicles or other road users, a junction and/or a road. They can alsoinclude a specific situation that requires regulation, for example whena slow-moving vehicle identifies oncoming traffic that preventsovertaking by following vehicles.

The environmental sensors can comprise a number of cameras, for example.However, they can also consist of other environmental sensors, forexample ultrasound sensors, radar devices, car-to-X-communication meansor mobile network communication means. By means of a camera,intersection topologies, road signs, junctions or oncoming vehicles, forexample, can be identified.

For example, traffic regulations can be identified from road signs orintersection topologies. From an identified road sign, for exampleright-of-way, give way or STOP, the corresponding traffic rule cantypically be directly derived. From an identified intersection topologywithout road signs the basic rule can be defined as right-before-left,wherein with reference to other identified vehicles, a traffic rule canbe derived for one's own vehicle. A right-of-way rule can be determinedfrom an identified junction or access road, taking into considerationthe local laws and regulations. From the identified oncoming vehicles itis possible to derive a no overtaking rule for following vehicles.

The control card is typically produced in that firstly the directlyderived rules, for example from an identified right-of-way sign, arewritten onto the control card and then corresponding compulsory trafficregulations are written onto the control card. For example, aright-of-way of one's own vehicle can correspond with a give way rulefor crossing traffic, as otherwise there would be a risk of an accident.The right-of-way of a vehicle driving on the motorway can correspondwith a give-way rule for a merging vehicle.

By comparing control cards in particular it is possible to check whetherthe control card corresponds with other control cards or produces aconsistent image together with other control cards. This means inparticular that the control cards contain traffic regulations whichresult in the least possible risk of accident.

In particular it is possible to compare between control cards producedby different vehicles, for example by means of respective environmentalsensors.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the additional controlcard is received by a central server. This makes it possible to use aglobal back-end, wherein the central server supports the vehicles withthe management and exchange of control cards.

According to one embodiment, the vehicle and other vehicles are involvedin the matching procedure that are approaching an intersection orjunction or that are driving on the same road. According to a furtherembodiment, which can also be combined with the latter, only thosevehicles are involved in the matching procedure from which anintersection of respective trajectories has been calculated.

This corresponds to typical groups of vehicles, between which it isadvantageous to compare traffic regulations or control cards containingsaid traffic regulations.

According to one embodiment, the matching procedure is performed by therepeated direct exchange and comparison of control cards and/orplausibility information between the vehicles involved, until all of thevehicles involved have an identical control card or until a predefinednumber of repetitions has been reached.

In this way, in a direct exchange between the vehicles the control cardscan be improved iteratively, so that all vehicles have the same controlcard. Plausibility information can include for example accompanyinginformation, for example about reliabilities. For example, it can relateto the information or data already described above. Information aboutreliabilities, for example from environmental sensors, can be used, forexample, to give priority to specific control cards or to attributegreater importance to them, if they have been generated usingparticularly reliable sensors.

According to one embodiment it is provided that a comparison of controlcards and/or plausibility information includes a respective plausibilitycheck, wherein a plausibility check preferably comprises one or more ofthe following steps

-   -   evaluating and/or weighting available information, in particular        in relation to information from other vehicles,    -   determining the significance and/or reliability of information,    -   checking which other vehicles have identical information or have        sent identical information,    -   adding information, if this is complementary.

As part of a respective plausibility check, respective control cards canbe evaluated and/or modified, so that a control card is formed that canuse all of the vehicles involved or that applies to all vehicles. Ifidentical information is available from a plurality of vehicles, thisinformation typically has a greater degree of reliability, so that itcan be taken into particular consideration when creating a commoncontrol card. The same can apply to more significant and/or morereliable information.

Complementary information is defined in particular as information whichcan be taken over without any changes into a single control card,without thereby increasing the risk of collision of vehicles complyingwith said control card. For example, this can consist of complementaryinformation in the case of a right-of-way for a road and give way for acrossing road and complementary traffic regulations.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that when performing thematching procedure one or more of the following steps are performediteratively:

-   -   evaluating the significance and/or confidence level of        information with thresholds or probabilities, for example for        dangerous situations or the driving mode such as selfdriving or        automatically driving a respective vehicle,    -   plausibility checks, for example technical or statistical        checks,    -   bringing together information, in particular all available        information,    -   merging, in particular creating a new, for example extended, in        particular spatially extended and/or refined image, which in        particular has a consistent content.

An image can be defined for example as a control card. This can alsoinclude a differently represented assessment of a traffic situation or aroad topology. An image has consistent content in particular when therespective traffic regulations correspond with one another, so that theprobability of collision when observing the traffic regulations or acontrol card created from the latter cannot be increased and/or isminimal.

Of course, the matching procedure can be performed both in the vehiclethat has triggered the matching procedure, in particular as explainedabove, or also in every other vehicle involved. The method is thus,particularly in this case, not restricted to being performed in onevehicle. It can for example also be a method which is performeddistributed over several vehicles.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that a control card isformed from the matching procedure, which is sent to a number of othervehicles.

This enables in particular the creation of a control card to be observedby all of the vehicles.

According to one embodiment, the method for performing the matchingprocedures also comprises a step of identifying a blockage.

A blockage is defined in particular as a situation in which a pluralityof vehicles are moving towards one another or are arranged such that itis not possible to define a clear right-of-way rule. This may be thecase for example when four vehicles from different directions areapproaching an intersection where the right-before-left rule applies andreach the intersection at the same time.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that in the case of ablockage a control card is created and/or determined

-   -   that enables the best possible flow of traffic,    -   in which vehicles which cannot participate in the process, in        particular vehicles without car-to-X-communication technology,        are let through with priority, and/or    -   in which, particularly in the case of an impasse, priorities are        allocated to vehicles on the basis of one or more of the        following parameters:        -   driving speed,        -   fixed set of rules,        -   driving direction, for example compass direction,        -   reading of a respective right-of-way counter,        -   navigation information,        -   information about activated components such as a navigation            system,        -   information about indicators,        -   information about automatic steering,        -   information about giving way,        -   destination,        -   planned trajectory,        -   special action rights or provision of special right-of-way            features; or    -   wherein in the case of a blockage the matching procedure is        interrupted.

An impasse is defined in particular as a situation in which none of thevehicles has right-of-way a priori. The term giving way is defined inparticular to mean that a vehicle foregoes its possible right-of-way onits own accord, the giving way being preferably communicated to theother vehicles involved.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that in the case of ablockage or impasse the method performs a step of identifying whethergiving way is appropriate, and in the case of giving way a message issent about giving way to the other vehicles involved.

In this way the complexity of the rules can be reduced considerably, asa vehicle which gives way leads to giving priority at least at a clearand directly registerable traffic regulation.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that when performing thematching procedure the following steps are carried out:

-   -   establishing a vehicle involved in the matching procedure or a        road side unit as a master unit,    -   determining a control card for all of the vehicles involved in        the matching procedure by means of the master unit, and    -   sending the control card to all of the vehicles involved.

In contrast to the approaches described above, which can also bereferred to as cooperative approaches at least in some embodiments, withthis approach a master unit is specified which takes over the formationof a control card valid for all vehicles. In this way, it is possible toavoid a plurality of iterations between the vehicles. Rather it ispossible to concentrate on the process of creating a control card on avehicle, which then sends the control card to the other vehicles.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the method alsocomprises a step of sending a confirmation to the master unit and/or toother vehicles involved in the matching procedure after receiving acontrol card from the master unit.

In this way it is possible, in particular, to check and/or verify, thatall of the vehicles involved have received the control card. A criticalsituation which may result from this, such as for example a vehicle notreceiving the control card correctly, can be prevented in this way.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the master unit isdetermined from the vehicles involved in the matching procedure,preferably by using one or more of the following criteria:

-   -   times of arrival at a location with a traffic situation to be        regulated,    -   quality of respective sensors,    -   reliability of driving experience,    -   number of regulations as master unit in the past,    -   special action rights or provision of special right-of-way        features and/or    -   wherein a unit arranged at the road-side, in particular a Road        Side Unit (RSU) is determined as the master unit.

By means of said criteria, it is possible to make a suitable selectionof the master unit that is appropriate for the situation. Suitableindicators can be provided for criteria such as quality or drivingexperience. Counters can be provided for criteria such as the number ofrequirements as master unit in the past. Special action rights can infact include particular rights that are taken advantage of, for examplespeeding when an ambulance or fire engine is responding to an emergency.Right-of-way features can be provided independently of their actualutilisation, for example when an ambulance is not responding to anemergency and is adhering to the traffic regulations.

A road side unit can be in particular an electronic device which isarranged near a road and is designed to communicate with vehicles. Aroad side unit of this kind, in particular the relevant functionality,can be provided here as a master unit.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that vehicles that are notthe master unit perform one or more of the following steps:

-   -   sending traffic regulations and/or at least one control card to        the master unit,    -   receiving a control card from the master unit,    -   and preferably also sending a confirmation about observing the        control card received by the master unit.

In this way, suitable information can be sent to the master unit orreceived from the latter.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the master unitperforms one or more of the following steps:

-   -   receiving traffic regulations and/or control cards from        vehicles,    -   bringing together and/or merging the traffic regulations or        control cards,    -   identifying and/or resolving blockages and/or unclear rule        situations, in particular by adapting or modifying a control        card,    -   sending a control card created from the latter, in particular a        merged control card, to other vehicles involved in the matching        procedure,    -   sending the driving behaviour of the vehicle, which is the        master unit.

In this way, the master unit performs steps which are used for creatingthe joint control card and/or for improving the processing of a controlcard in a vehicle.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that when performing thematching procedure there is a random allocation of priorities to thevehicles involved, wherein a vehicle with a higher priority hasright-of-way over vehicles with a lower priority.

In the absence of other indicators for priorities, this allows apragmatic, simple and fair allocation of priorities to the individualvehicles. Rights-of-way or priorities should preferably correspond withone another, which can mean in particular, that the respectiverights-of-way or priorities or traffic regulations derived from thelatter result in the lowest possible risk of accident.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that if a terminationcriterion is met during the matching procedure, the method comprises astep of terminating the matching procedure.

This makes it possible to react to a particularly difficult situation,where for example it is possible to avoid a matching procedure that istoo long and possibly inconclusive. In particular, for example it ispossible to avoid the matching procedure taking up too much time, inorder to ensure the safe control of the traffic situation before thearrival of the vehicles at the critical location. When terminating thematching procedure for example driving manoeuvres can be stopped, andthis can be transmitted to the respective driver, or other suitablemeasures can be taken for avoiding a collision in particular.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the control card or theadditional control card is received via a radio connection, inparticular in a car-to-X-message. In principle, confirmations can alsobe sent or transmitted via a radio connection, in particular in acar-to-X-message.

This enables in particular the direct exchange of control cards orconfirmations between the vehicles involved without the interconnectionof a mobile network.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the method alsocomprises a step of sending information, in particular about controlcards and/or traffic regulations, to following or other road users,wherein said sending step is repeated continually or performed inresponse to a situation that has been controlled in the past.

In this way, other, in particular following, road users can receiveinformation about the controlled situation. This enables the latter totake over the respective control card in comparable situations forexample.

According to one embodiment, it is provided that the control card and/orthe additional control card are assigned to

-   -   an intersection,    -   a roundabout    -   a junction, in particular joining a motorway,    -   a narrow section,    -   a stopping point and/or    -   a road, in particular a road where overtaking is possible.

In such locations there are often situations where rules need to beapplied, which can be controlled advantageously by means of the methodaccording to the invention.

Of course, an aspect of the invention also relates to a device forperforming the method according to the invention. For example, such adevice can be an electronic control device, which comprises processormeans and storage means, a program code being stored in the storagemeans, whereby the method according to the invention is performed inthis embodiment. A control device of this kind can also be integratedinto another device for example, such as in a control device forautomatic driving or driver assist systems. The invention also relatesto a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, which containsprogram code, in which embodiment a method according to the invention isperformed by a processor. Of course, in principle it is possible toaccess all of the described embodiments and variants of the methodaccording to the invention.

Furthermore, an aspect of the invention relates to a system consistingof a number of vehicles, wherein each vehicle is designed to perform amethod according to the invention, and wherein the vehicles are designedto communicate with one another, in particular for performing the methodaccording to the invention and in particular by usingcar-to-X-communication. With regard to the method according to theinvention it is possible to access all of the described embodiments andvariants.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A person skilled in the art can take further features and advantages ofthe invention from the example embodiments described in the followingwith reference to the accompanying drawing. In the latter:

FIG. 1: shows a situation to be regulated at an intersection,

FIG. 2: shows a situation to be regulated on a road.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows an intersection 10 at which a first road 12 and a secondroad 14 cross at right angles. On the first road 12 a first vehicle 20is driving towards the intersection 10. A second vehicle 22 is moving inthe opposite direction on the other side of the intersection 10, whereinthe latter is also driving towards the intersection 10. On the secondroad 14 a third vehicle 24 is driving transversely to the latter, whichis also approaching the intersection 10. The vehicles 20, 22, 24 areonly shown schematically. Respective arrows indicate the drivingdirections.

In the situation shown in FIG. 1, the unregulated continuation of all ofthe vehicles 20, 22, 24 would lead to a collision. For this reason thereare right-of-way rules that determine the priority of the vehicles 20,22, 24. The latter are indicated here by means of road signs, where thefirst vehicle 20 and the second vehicle 22 each have a sign in front ofthem which indicates to give way, whereas the third vehicle 24 has aright-of-way sign in front of it. From this rule it follows that thefirst vehicle 20 and the second vehicle 22 have to wait for the thirdvehicle 24 to pass first. Then the first vehicle 20 and the secondvehicle 22 can drive on straight away as their paths do not cross.

It is assumed in this case that the first vehicle 20 identifies thetraffic situation to be regulated first, as it determines by means ofsatellite navigation and electronic road card that it is driving towardsan intersection and also identifies by means of a camera that othervehicles are also approaching the intersection. By means of the camerathe first vehicle 20 also identifies the give way sign, which tells thefirst vehicle 20 that it does not have right-of-way.

From this the first vehicle then derives a control card which isassociated with the intersection 10. The control card includes thetraffic rule “give way” for the first vehicle 20. As in such a case inthe absence of any indication of a differing right-of-way rule theopposite driving direction is also subject to the same traffic rule, thegive way traffic rule is also included for the second vehicle. It isalso known that at such intersections crossing traffic has right-of-way,when a specific vehicle has to give way. Therefore, the traffic rule“right-of-way” is also entered for the third vehicle 24 and for theopposite direction.

The generated control card, which contains the previously mentionedtraffic regulations in a specific generally known format, is thentransmitted from the first vehicle 20 by car-to-X-communication meansand received by the other vehicles 22, 24. The latter also create theirown control card by means of respective cameras in the same way aspreviously described. Said self-created control cards are compared withthe control card received from the first vehicle 20. If the controlcards match, the respective vehicles 22, 24 send a confirmation to thefirst vehicle 20 that the control cards match and thus for all vehicles20, 22, 24 it is possible to pass the intersection 10 without any riskby using identical control cards. The traffic rules contained in thecommon control card are displayed for the attention of the respectivedrivers of the vehicles 20, 22, 24.

If the control cards do not match with one of the other vehicles 22, 24,for example because one of the vehicles 20, 22, 24 has not correctlyidentified a road sign as it is covered with snow, a matching procedureis initiated. For the latter there are in principle two possibleembodiments, which are both described in the following with reference toFIG. 1.

According to a first embodiment, the vehicles 20, 22, 24 carry out acooperative matching procedure. In this case the control cards areexchanged with one another in a plurality of iterative steps andevaluated in the vehicles 20, 22, 24 respectively. In particular,information is evaluated which relates to the reliability of therespective camera, by means of which the control card has been created.Furthermore, a traffic regulation is considered more reliable if agreater numbers of vehicles have identified the latter independently ofone another.

If the vehicles 20, 22, 24 hereby within a specified highest number ofiterative steps arrive at a common control card, said control card isdistributed to the vehicles and observed. In this way it is possible topass the intersection 10 without risk, wherein the traffic regulationscontained in the common control card are displayed to the respectivedrivers. If the vehicles 20, 22, 24 do not arrive at a common controlcard within a specific highest number of iterative steps, the matchingprocedure is terminated. In this case a signal is given to therespective drivers of the vehicles 20, 22, 24, which asks them to maketheir own assessment of the traffic situation.

According to a second embodiment, a vehicle is specified as the masterunit of vehicles 20, 22, 24, to which all of the information about thecontrol cards and their creation is sent as previously mentioned. Themaster unit can be defined as the vehicle which has been the master unitthe least often according to an internal counter. The vehicle determinedas the master unit then evaluates the available information and createsa common control card for the attention of all vehicles. Said commoncontrol card is sent to the other vehicles, which send out aconfirmation of receipt and possibly also an acceptance receipt. Thetraffic regulations contained in the common control card are selected sothat they are complementary to one another, i.e. so that in particularit is possible for all vehicles 20, 22, 24 to pass the intersection 10without colliding. These rules are displayed to the respective driversof the vehicles 20, 22, 24.

FIG. 2 shows a single-lane road 16, on which vehicles are driving inboth directions. This consists of a first vehicle 20 which is followinga second vehicle 22, and a third vehicle 24 travelling in the oppositedirection. The second vehicle 22 is here a slow-moving lorry. Therefore,the first vehicle 20 has a reason for overtaking the second vehicle 22.

The second vehicle 22, being a commercial vehicle, is equipped withbetter sensors, in particular a better camera than the other vehicles20, 24. Furthermore, it has a better field of vision over the road 16than the following first vehicle 20. Therefore, the second vehicle 22sends information to the first vehicle 20, in which it shows that can beof assistance in performing an overtaking procedure.

If the driver of the first vehicle 20 would like to perform anovertaking procedure, he activates a button provided in the firstvehicle 20. With this the intention to overtake is sent in a message tothe second vehicle 22. The latter then detects with its camera theenvironmental situation in front of him and identifies the oncomingthird vehicle 24, which will clearly stand in the way of the overtakingprocedure of the first vehicle 20. The second vehicle 22 then creates acontrol card, which contains a temporary no overtaking rule for the road16. Said control card is sent by the second vehicle 22 to the firstvehicle 20, which receives said control card and determines that, due tothe temporary no overtaking rule, it is currently not possible toundertake an overtaking procedure. This is displayed to the driver ofthe first vehicle 20, so the latter is requested not to perform theplanned overtaking procedure. A collision with the third vehicle 24 iseffectively avoided in this way.

Of course, the example embodiments shown here are only given inschematic form. For simplification, reference numerals are not insertedin the following claims. It is assumed that it would be straightforwardto attribute the terms of the claims to the example embodiments.

In general, it should be noted that car-to-X-communication is defined inparticular as direct communication between vehicles and/or betweenvehicles and infrastructure devices. For example it can consist ofcar-to-car communication or car-to-infrastructure communication. Wherereference is made in this application to communication between vehiclesthis can be performed in principle for example as part of acar-to-car-communication, which is typically performed withoutcommunication through a mobile network or similar externalinfrastructure and which therefore should be differentiated from othersolutions, which are based on a mobile network for example. For example,car-to-X-communication can be performed by using the standard IEEE802.11p or IEEE1609.4. A car-to-X-communication can also be referred toas C2X-communication. The sub-areas can be denoted as C2C (car-to-car)or C2I (car-to-infrastructure).

It should also be noted that embodiments of the method are possible inat least one of its variants for example in which only one vehicleidentifies the traffic regulations, creates a control card from thelatter and then sends it for the immediate attention of other vehicles.Said vehicles then receive the control card and use it withoutadditional checking. Preferably, they can confirm the receipt and/oracknowledgment. It is also possible for all of the vehicles involved toreceive respective control cards from a central server.

Of course, a method according to the invention can also be performed forexample by vehicles or with the involvement of vehicles, which do nothave environmental sensors such as for example cameras, RADAR or LIDAR.For example, such vehicles can approach an intersection or anotherlocation to which rules need to be applied, which is also beingapproached by other vehicles, which have environmental sensors. Vehicleswithout environmental sensors typically cannot produce a control card,but can still participate in a matching procedure or matching step andcontribute to providing a generally accepted and/or used control card.

It should be noted that a method according to the invention can be usedin principle for all kinds of vehicles. In particular, it can be usedfor freely steerable or also automatically driving vehicles such as forexample cars, lorries, buses or emergency vehicles. However, it can alsobe used for railed vehicles, for example for example trams or evennormal trains. It can also be used in vehicles, which are operated byhuman or animal muscle power or in special vehicles such as for examplein vehicles used for transport within plants, for example forklifttrucks.

The claims belonging to the application are not a hindrance to theattainment of further protection.

Should it become clear that during the method one feature or a group offeatures is not absolutely necessary, the applicant has alreadyattempted to formulate at least one independent claim, which no longercomprises the feature or the group of features. This can consist forexample of a subcombination of a claim made on the day of application ora subcombination of a claim made on the day of application which isrestricted by additional features. Such claims or combinations offeatures to be newly formulated are considered to be covered by thedisclosure of this application.

It should also be noted that embodiments, features and variants of theinvention, which are described in the various different embodiments orexample embodiments and/or are shown in the Figures, can be combinedwith one another as desired. Individual or a plurality of features canbe exchanged as desired. Combinations of features from the latter areconsidered to be covered by the disclosure of this application.

Back referrals in dependent claims to previous claims should not beconsidered to mean that independent, protection of the features of thedependent claims is being forfeited. Said features can also be combinedas desired with other features.

Features which are only disclosed in the description or features whichare disclosed in the description or in a claim only in connection withother features, can be considered to be significant independently asessential to the invention. They can therefore also be included in theclaims individually for delimiting from the prior art.

What is claimed:
 1. A method for handling at least one control cardcontaining traffic regulations in a plurality of vehicles, wherein thecontrol card comprises a set of traffic regulations for controllingtraffic flow of the plurality of vehicles, wherein each of the vehiclesincludes storage memory, and a processor accessible to the storagememory and configured to: obtain, by a first vehicle of the plurality ofvehicles, a first control card of the at least one control card, whereinthe first control card is at least one of stored in the storage memoryof the first vehicle or received from an alternate source, and whereinthe first control card includes traffic regulations specific to trafficcompliance for the first vehicle; receive, by the first vehicle viacar-to-X communication, a second control card directly from a secondvehicle of the plurality of vehicles, wherein the second control cardincludes traffic regulations specific to traffic compliance for thesecond vehicle; compare the received second control card with the firstcontrol card to determine a match between the first and second controlcards; and when the comparison indicates that the first control cardmatches the second control card, the first vehicle transmits aconfirmation to the second vehicle, when the comparison indicates thatthe first control card does not match the second control card, amatching procedure is performed to create a common control card, thecommon control card is created by a cooperative matching procedure wherethe first vehicle and the second vehicle iteratively cooperate with eachother to evaluate information based on which the first control card andthe second control card were generated, wherein: a) when the commoncontrol card is created within a predetermined number of iterations, thefirst vehicle and the second vehicle are controlled using the commoncontrol card, wherein the traffic regulations applicable to the trafficcompliance for the first and second vehicles are synchronized based uponthe common control card, wherein the processor of the first vehicle oranother processor of the first vehicle is configured to control at leastone vehicle system of the first vehicle based upon the common controlcard, and wherein the processor of the second vehicle or anotherprocessor of the second vehicle is configured to control at least onevehicle system of the second vehicle based upon the common control card,and b) when the common control card is not created within thepredetermined number of iterations, the cooperative matching procedureis terminated, the first vehicle requests that a driver of the firstvehicle make their own assessment of the traffic, and the second vehiclerequests that a driver of the second vehicle make their own assessmentof the traffic.
 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:recognizing an approach by at least one of the vehicles to anintersection or junction, wherein the approach is recognised byenvironmental sensors, including at least one of a camera, satellitenavigation, an electronic road map and/or the car-to-X-communication. 3.The method according to claim 2, wherein the traffic regulationscontained in the control card are assigned to the intersection orjunction.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the comparing isperformed such that the first vehicle sends a message to the secondvehicle which receives a request for sending the second control card. 5.The method according to claim 1, wherein the comparing is repeatedperiodically.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, together withthe control card, accompanying information is received, comprising atleast one of: a registration number of a vehicle sending the controlcard; an identification number of a vehicle sending the control card; anintersection topology; object properties of a vehicle sending thecontrol card; information about the reliability of the control cardand/or about the reliability of environmental sensors; information aboutthe vehicles, which are not equipped with car-to-X-communicationtechnology, including their registration number; or a measure ofreliability of the control card.
 7. The method according to claim 1,wherein the first control card is produced by: identifying environmentalsurroundings of the vehicles by a number of environmental sensors,deriving a number of traffic regulations based on the environmentalsurroundings, and producing the first control card on the basis at leastof the traffic regulations.
 8. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe first control card is received from a central server.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the first and second vehicles which areinvolved in the synchronizing procedure are approaching an intersectionor junction or are driving on the same road; and/or wherein the firstand second vehicles are exclusively involved in the synchronizingprocedure from which an intersection of trajectories has beencalculated.
 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein thesynchronizing procedure is performed by multiple direct exchanges, viathe car-to-X communication, and comparison of control cards and/orplausibility information between involved vehicles, until all of thevehicles involved have an identical control card or until a predefinednumber of comparisons has been reached, the plausibility informationindicating reliability of a sensor used in the creation of the controlcard.
 11. The method according to claim 6, wherein the comparing of thecontrol cards and/or the accompanying information contains a respectiveplausibility check, wherein the plausibility check comprises a review ofdata from one or more of the following: evaluating and/or weightingavailable accompanying information transmitted from one of the pluralityof vehicles with reference to the accompanying information from othervehicles of the plurality of vehicles; determining a significance and/orreliability of the evaluated information, checking which of the othervehicles have a same control card or accompanying information or havesent the same accompanying information, and adding new information, whenthe new information is complementary to the plausibility check.
 12. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein when performing the matchingprocedure one or more of the following are performed repeatedly:evaluating a significance and/or a confidence level of information fromthe control cards with thresholds or probabilities, checkingplausibility of the information indicating reliability of a sensor usedin the creation of the control card, bringing together all information,creating a new control card.
 13. The method according to claim 1,wherein from the synchronizing procedure a new control card is producedwhich is sent to a number of the vehicles involved in the synchronizingprocedure.
 14. The method according to claim 1, which when performingthe synchronizing procedure, further comprises identifying a blockage inan interpretation of the traffic regulations.
 15. The method accordingto claim 14, wherein, in an event of the identified blockage, an updatedcontrol card is created to coordinate a flow of the vehicles in whichvehicles without car-to-X-communication technology are let through withpriority, and/or in which, priorities are allocated to the vehiclesinvolved in the blockage on the basis of one or more of the followingparameters: driving speed, a fixed set of rules, driving direction ofthe vehicles involved in the blockage, a reading of respectiveright-of-way counter, navigation information, information aboutactivated components, information about indicators, information aboutautomatic steering, information about giving way, a destination, aplanned trajectory, and special action rights or provision of specialright-of-way rights; or wherein in the case of continued blockage, thesynchronizing procedure is interrupted.
 16. The method according toclaim 1, wherein when performing the synchronizing procedure thefollowing are carried out: establishing the vehicles involved in thesynchronizing procedure or a road side unit as a master unit,determining a common control card for each of the vehicles involved inthe synchronizing procedure by the master unit, and sending the commoncontrol card to each of the vehicles involved.
 17. The method accordingto claim 16, further comprising: sending a confirmation to the masterunit and/or to the vehicles involved in the synchronizing procedureafter receiving the common control card from the master unit.
 18. Themethod according to claim 16, wherein the master unit is determined fromthe vehicles involved in the synchronizing procedure, and by using oneor more of the following criteria: times of arrival at a location with atraffic situation to be regulated by the traffic regulations, a qualitylevel of sensors, driving experience of a respective driver of thevehicles involved, a number of past assignments as master unit, specialaction rights or provision of special right-of-way rights and/or whereinthe roadside unit arranged at the road-side is determined as the masterunit.
 19. The method according to claim 16, Wherein the vehicles, whichare not the master unit, perform one or more of the following: sendingtraffic regulations and/or at least one control card to the master unit,receiving a control card from the master unit, and sending aconfirmation about observing the control card received by the masterunit.
 20. The method according to claim 16, wherein the master unitperforms one or more of the following: receiving traffic regulationsand/or control cards of vehicles, merging the traffic regulations orcontrol cards, identifying and/or resolving blockages and/or unclearrule situations by modifying a control card, sending a common controlcard created from the modifying via a merged control card, to thevehicles involved in the synchronizing procedure, and sending a roadbehaviour of the vehicle which is the master unit.
 21. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein when performing the synchronizingprocedure, further comprises allocating priorities to the vehiclesinvolved, wherein a vehicle of the vehicles involved with a higherpriority has right-of-way over the vehicles with a lower priority. 22.The method according to claim 1, wherein when a termination criterion ismet, the synchronizing procedure further comprises terminating thematching procedure.
 23. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising sending information via control cards to following or othervehicles, wherein the sending is repeated continually in response to asituation that has been regulated in the past.
 24. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the first control card and/or the second controlcard is assigned to: an intersection, a roundabout, a junction, inparticular on a motorway, a narrow section, a stopping point, and/or aroad when overtaking.